10 Minutes With: Peartree Flowers

Florist

Liza loves to allow each flower to "show off a bit" in an arrangement.

Courtesy of Peartree Flowers

Using seasonal flowers and greens is a great way to find blooms you love while keeping costs down.

Courtesy of Peartree Flowers

Whether it's white and green or a bold pink, having a set color scheme is a must when first meeting with your florist.

Courtesy of Peartree Flowers

The bouquets and arrangements created by Peartree Flowers walk the most elegant line between wild and messy.

Courtesy of Peartree Flowers

Liza's creations capture the feeling of an endless garden full of lush blooms.

From a weed whacker to hand-tied bouquets, Liza Lubell has seen everything the world of horticulture has to offer.

Liza Lubell of Peartree Flowers had an unconventional introduction to the world of bright blooms, discovering her green thumb not at a florist’s bench but working as a landscaper between semesters in college. Though she’s now brought her understanding of everything botanical from anemones to zinnias indoors, Liza’s work hasn’t lost the wild, unbridled feeling of a sprawling garden at the height of summer.

The combination of her passion for fresh, seasonal blooms and her unique aesthetic results in centerpieces and bouquets that are beautifully curated while still feeling natural and organic. If your style walks the fine line between wild and over the top, Peartree Flowers could be the ideal florist to bring your ideas to life.

How did you first become interested in flowers and flower arranging? When I was in college, I had a summer job as a landscaper. I was working on the most beautiful estates with the most insane gardens out on the east end of Long Island and pretty quickly fell in love with horticulture, flowers and the lifecycles of plants. After college, I moved out west to Portland, Oregon and on a whim tried to find a job at a flower shop. Eight years later and back on the East Coast, I just can’t seem to think of anything else I’d rather do.

Tell us about the first wedding you ever did. The first wedding I ever did was a real wake-up call about the labor involved in the flower business. I had daydreams about reading great novels, sipping coffee and casually making arrangements. My first wedding squashed that dream and instead there was running, lifting, assembling, and timelines... It feeds the part of my personality that likes to see things come to fruition in a short amount of time.

What is the hardest part about floral design for weddings? There’s a lot that is out of your control with floral design. An unexpectedly hot day can melt the hydrangeas you were planning on using. A gust of wind can knock something over. Rain can change the ceremony location ten minutes before it starts. There’s a lot of quick and last minute adjusting that comes with floral design. It can be hard until you let it go a little bit, relax, find the solution and move forward. In my flower career thus far, there has always been a solution.

Can you give us some tips for brides? What’s the process of working with a florist like, from beginning to end?I think there’s a nice balance between being attracted to someone’s work and finding a nice rapport with your florist. Typically you’re working with your florist for 3-12 months – sometimes longer. I think finding someone who understands your taste and preferences can go a long way. It can cut out a lot of the back and forth.

There are consultations at first and then proposals, emails, site visits, phone calls, therapy sessions, proposal updates, drink dates, more emails, mock-ups and probably 10 more emails. There’s a lot of conversation that happens to work out the details. Weddings are a fluid thing – ideas change, numbers change, sometimes even the venue changes. I think that’s why it’s so important to work with someone you get along with. It’s nice to be working with someone who understands you, can roll with the punches and excitedly hands you your bouquet on your wedding day.